


Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

by Flyting



Series: Hot Teacher / Single Dad AU [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate depiction of the snow battle, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Hot Dad Ben Solo, Kidfic, M/M, Rey is Ben's kid because Reasons, Slow Burn, Teacher Hux
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-22 19:39:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13173816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flyting/pseuds/Flyting
Summary: Winter rolls around, bringing slush and runny noses, and for Ben Solo, a realization that he may or may not have a crush on his daughter's third grade teacher.“What about tomorrow?” Ben blurts out when Hux starts to turn away. Shit. Shit. Shit. “If you’re not too busy, you could just stop by for a few minutes. Rey got you a present, I’m sure she’d love to give it to you. And I at least owe you a coffee or something.”





	Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after 'Family Matters' and 'And Make a Million Mistakes', but before the rest of the series.

Winter rolls around, bringing slush and runny noses.

Rey catches a cold the first week of December and stays home from school for two days, eating canned soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and watching Mythbusters on Netflix. For those two days, Ben’s Google search history is a string of increasingly desperate inquiries:

 _difference between cold and flu_  
_is throwing up normal with a cold_  
_flu symptoms_  
_how long does the flu last_  
_diseases similar to flu_  
_symptoms of anthrax_  
_is it anthrax or flu_  
_how much tylenol safe for kids_  
_100 degree fever_  
_when to take kids to the hospital fever_

She sleeps on the couch, a sad, sniffly little burrito in her favorite Wonder Woman blanket, and he begs out of work to stay home all night to bring her juice and rub circles on her back with his palm, like he used to see her mom do when she was a baby. When her throat hurts and she whimpers because she can’t sleep, Ben honest-to-god cries. He’s never felt so useless in his life.

The second day she’s out, Rey’s teacher texts Ben to ask how she’s doing.

By the time she’s better, winter has officially set in.

The December snow is thin, not good for much more than coating the sidewalks in a thin layer of white that’s quickly trampled dirty brown. It’s a shame- Ben remembers winters when he was a kid being a lot more impressive. He has vague, probably exaggerated memories of giant snowmen and building ice forts in his backyard with his dad.

The local kids manage to have some fun with it anyway, scraping snow off ledges and fences around the apartment complex to fling at each other. In the mornings he bundles Rey off in her hat and scarf. Every morning she walks to school with a neighbor kid, a boy named Finn who lived in the next building and had recently lost one of his front teeth. The early morning frost turns her nose and cheeks pink.

“That’s so cool!” Rey squeals when Finn holds it up in one glove, beaming a gap-toothed grin.

After school, Ben waits outside the playground doors so that he can walk home with Rey.

He sticks out like a sore thumb in the pack of stay-at-home moms waiting for their kids outside the school. On top of being a fucking giant, he’s the only guy there. The first few days he kept half-expecting one of them to call the cops on him.

Now they just ignore him, flashing wary smiles before going back to comparing snack-time recipes off Pinterest and swapping pregnancy stories like some of the guys he used to know in prison did scar stories.

Some of the shit he accidentally overhears makes him want to cringe in horror. He’d butted in once, unable to contain a horrified, “That can happen?” and they’d giggled at him in a way that made him feel like he was back in high school and had just embarrassed himself in front of the popular girls.

When Rey’s mother was pregnant she’d still lived at home with her parents. It was her mom, and to a lesser degree Leia, who’d done all that pregnancy stuff with her. Ultrasounds and doctor visits. He’d tried going shopping for baby clothes with her a couple of times, but somehow it always managed to end in a stupid fight.

Like every other fucking thing they did together.

The week Rey was due he’d run off in his dad’s old van, overwhelmed with fear at the responsibility of it all, desperate to escape what felt like the end of his life. By the time his dad and his uncle finally tracked him down and dragged him back, Rey was already home from the hospital.

 _“You’re the one who got yourself into this mess, kid.”_   He can still feel his dad’s hand heavy on his shoulder, marching him up to the door like he was a little boy who’d just broken the neighbor’s window. At the time, it had felt like a death sentence.

On the last day of school before winter break, 2:30 hits and he waits, hands fisted in his coat pockets and breath frosting the air, while kids trickle out. They’re all wrapped up in their puffy winter jackets, the kindergartners looking like little marshmallows with legs. A sea of colorful bobble hats stampede around his knees as their moms herd them off.

“They have parts on the back called the stabilizers and they can fly this- look- this close-” He hears Rey before he sees her, gushing about her new favorite thing this week, the Blue Angels. They’d watched a couple of videos on YouTube after he told her how his grandpa used to fly with them.

“Really? That sounds dangerous.”

Ever since The Incident, Mr. Hux had taken to walking her out of the school building most days. All month he's resisted wearing anything even remotely Christmasy, but today, in concession- or maybe it’s in surrender- to the holidays, he’s decked out in a pastel green shirt and a painfully festive tie.

Ben crosses his arms as Hux steers Rey straight to him.

“Time for the prisoner transfer,” Ben says, setting a serious look on his face. Rey rolls her eyes at him, but he’s rewarded when her teacher huffs a little laugh.

“She’s your responsibility for the next two weeks,” Hux says, matching his tone.

“I’ll rough her up if there are any problems.” Ben ruffles Rey’s hair with one large hand.

“Hey!” she yelps. “You will not.”

Hux laughs, and Ben is suddenly aware, with a low sinking in his stomach, that this is the last time he’ll see him until after New Years. Somehow, he’s kinda gotten used to exchanging hellos every afternoon.

“So Hux, you have any big plans for the holidays?”

“Christmas. Family. The usual.”

“Wow, sounds exciting,” Ben deadpans, then inwardly cringes. That’s the kind of tacky shit his dad would say.

“Is anyone our age excited to spend a week with their parents?” Hux replies mildly, and Ben can take a hint when he quickly changes the subject. “What about you two? This is your first Christmas together, I believe.”

There had been a couple of holidays when Rey was a baby, before he got arrested. The three of them together like a real family. They usually ended in shouting, and anyway Rey’s too young to remember them. He doesn’t count those. “Yeah, first one. Uh…” he says, “Probably food and presents. Normal family stuff.”

It’s still weird to say, but something about it makes him want to smile. Family stuff. Their family.

“We have a tree!” Rey interrupts with a little bounce. The yarn ball on top of her hat gives an excited wobble.

“Good,” Hux says. He never used that fake ‘adults talking to little kids’ voice. It was something Ben liked about him. “Christmas isn’t the same without a tree.”

“It’s tiny. I think it’s a midget. But it’s really green and it smells like Christmas.”

Ben tries not to laugh and fails. “Rey…”

It was a dinky thing, one of those dwarf trees from the 24-hour grocery store, but it was real and Rey was crazy about it. She’d never had a tree that wasn’t made out of plastic before.

“This is going to be so better than last year!” She’d babbled, bouncing around the cart holding their tiny tree as he pushed it out of the store. “We didn’t even have a tree last year because mom forgot to get one, even though I reminded her like every day. All we had was Oscar’s stupid ugly wreath made out of beer cans. We didn’t even have _lights_.”

Ben had decided right then that next year he was going to start saving up earlier and they’d go to one of those tree farms and he’d let her pick out the biggest one they could find.

“Have you decorated it yet?”

“Yeah! Show the pictures!” Rey latches on to Ben’s arm, clinging and letting her feet dangle. She’s small for her age, and skinny. It’s no trouble to lift her with one arm. “ _Pictuuuures_ ,” she whines.

“She took about ten thousand pictures of this sad little Charlie Brown tree with my phone,” Ben says to Hux, apologetic.

“I’d love to see them.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Somehow Ben ends up standing beside Hux, holding out his phone, with Rey crammed warm in between them while she swipes through Christmas tree pictures, offering little comments on each one. Hux actually seems interested in it, asking Rey questions and huddling closer to Ben for warmth. Hux isn’t wearing a jacket and Ben can feel the way he’s holding himself stiff against the chill even through his own thick winter clothes.

When the wind picks up, Ben shifts to the side so that he can shield them both from the worst of the cold breeze.

“Alright munchkin, we gotta go,” he says finally, “Mister Hux is going to freeze.”

“Okay, bye, mister Hux!” Rey beams. “Have a good Christmas!”

“You too, Rey.”

“Bye, Armitage.” He didn’t mean it to sound teasing. It still felt weird to call the teacher by his first name. Ben tended to ration it, like a secret treat.

“Ben,” Hux nods in return.

“Oh, nice tie, by the way,” he calls back they turn to leave. Okay, that one he meant to be teasing. He'd resisted this long and the tie was red and green and covered in bright cartoon Christmas trees. Glittery ones. Ben’s pretty sure he saw that thing for sale at Walmart.

“Thank you,” Hux’s jaw is stiff and he briefly looks like he is trying very hard not to either sigh or roll his eyes. It’s the look of defeat. “It was a gift from my class.”

“We all put in money and picked it out,” Rey beams. “He didn’t have any Christmasy ones.”

“Oops.” Ben grimaces. "I think I chipped in a few dollars for that. Sorry.”

It’s not until Hux has gone back inside and he and Rey have started for home that Ben allows himself to laugh.

 

It’s 4:47 on Christmas Eve and they’re at the grocery store near the apartment for marshmallows and butter and a couple of other last-minute things Ben had forgotten when Rey tugs on his jacket and says, “Hey look, it’s mister Hux!”

Ben turns. At the end of the aisle Hux is there, cradling a shopping basked in the crook of one arm and his phone in the other. There are still little flecks of snow dotting his neatly-combed hair and the shoulders of his dark coat. His mouth is moving, talking to someone on the other end of the phone. _Probably his wife_ , Ben thinks in a sudden, unprompted flash. He doesn't know why that makes him sad. The image fits just a little too well - Hux making Christmas dinner with someone. Stopping on his way home from his parents to grab more milk. He seems the type. Ben can see him in a little house in the suburbs. Something small and renovated, with a big kitchen.

“Can we go say hi?”

“Yeah, sure,” Ben says.

When they get closer he drops a hand on her shoulder, not wanting to interrupt while Hux was talking.

“-don’t be ridiculous, you’ll do fine. Just tell them I’m busy...Well then say I’m sick- look, I don’t really care what you tell them. I’m not coming. ...Stop worrying, of course she won’t. It’s Maratelle, not the CIA.” Hux pauses, listening, and snorts at what whoever is on the other end has said, “Now you’re just being ridiculous. You’re a grown man. No. No, you- ... I have to go. Don’t worry, you’ll do fine, _goodbye_.”

He sighs, thumbing the end call button and something in Ben gives a painful little twist. If anyone was fluent in the language of family drama, it was Ben-fucking-Solo,

“Hi, mister Hux!” Rey says.

When Hux turns, there’s no trace of exhaustion on his face. He looks like himself. “Hello, Rey.”

“Did you forget marshmallows too?”

“No, I’m just getting something for dinner.”

“I thought you had a family thing?”

“Last minute change of plans,” Hux says.

Ben’s eyes dart down to the shopping basket on Hux’s arm. A can of cat food, two microwave dinners, and a bottle of wine.

“Hey,” Ben says to Rey, “Uh, that reminds me- go get the marshmallows. They’re in the next aisle, I think. Go, go, go-”

Rey doesn’t budge.

A little frown appears between her eyebrows, and for a second she looks just like her mother. “Are you just telling me to go over there to get rid of me?”

“Uh, _yeah_ , so move it.”

Rey rolls her eyes, but she turns and stomps off with a melodramatic sigh.

“Get the big ones!” He calls after her.

Once Rey is out of earshot, Hux says, “She’s far too smart for her own good. You're going to have your hands full when she's older.”

“Tell me about it.” Ben fidgets, pushing his hair back behind his ears. Should have brushed it before he left the house- stupid. “Listen, is there any chance you want to come have dinner with us tonight?” Something hardens behind Hux’s eyes before the words are out of his mouth, and Ben keeps talking to forestall the inevitable ‘no’ he can see there. “Just, if you don’t have plans I’d really appreciate it. I mean, you’ve done a lot for me this year and I haven’t been able to figure out a way to say thank you. It’s not great, but we’ve got Boston Market and hot chocolate. With marshmallows,” he adds, “Plus it’s just going to be the two of us, and having somebody else over would make it more... I don’t know, special?”

Hux opens his mouth and Ben cuts him off again because fuck he’s going to say no and this is going to be embarrassing why did he do this- “You’re welcome to bring someone else if you’ve got- your wife, or-”

“What? No, that’s not- I don’t- I’m not married,” if nothing else Hux seems nonplussed, thrown off by the change of subject. Which is better than him thinking Ben feels sorry for him, even if he does, just a tiny bit, because fuck he knows exactly what mac and cheese and wine for dinner on Christmas eve feels like.

Ben ignores the little flip his stomach does at _I’m not married._ Shit, he is not getting a crush on Rey’s teacher, please don’t be getting a crush on Rey’s teacher, abort, abort-

But Hux recovers quickly. “It’s very kind of you, Ben. Really. But I can’t.” He bites his lip and Ben’s stomach flips again. _Shit_. “Believe it or not, I’ve been looking forward to peace and quiet all week.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. Thank you, though. It’s very sweet.”

“What about tomorrow?” Ben blurts out when Hux starts to turn away. Shit. Shit. Shit. “If you’re not too busy, you could just stop by for a few minutes. Rey got you a present, I’m sure she’d love to give it to you. And I at least owe you a coffee or something.”

“I-”

“Please?” He pouts and makes a little whining sound in the back of his throat, like a dog. It’s a move that usually worked on the kind of people he used to bring home. Not that he’s trying to bring his daughter’s teacher home- shit.

“Alright,” Hux gives in. There’s a grudging little smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I suppose I can at least drop by. For Rey. I’ll be free around twelve.”

“Great. Awesome.”

“ _Are you done now_?” Rey calls from somewhere near the end-cap of the aisle. “Can I come back?”

"Only if you have marshmallows."  
  
Rey holds them out, one skinny arm sticking out from around the corner, and waves them like a flag of surrender.

“ _Finally_ ," Ben says, teasing.

Hux snorts. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Ben.”

“See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, mister Hux!”

Ben watches him leave, basket on his arm. Once he’s gone, Ben drops a hand on Rey’s shoulder and steers her towards the housewares aisle.

“Where are we going?”

“You have to get mister Hux a Christmas present.”

 

In the morning, they open their presents. It’s not an amazing haul- not like what Ben used to get when he was a kid and his parents would put all their money into making up with toys for what they lacked the rest of the year- but he had done okay. He got her some sweet Lego’s and some stuffed animals she wanted and a couple of secondhand books. _Amelia Bedelia_ and _Harry Potter_. He wanted her to read more. He’d always liked to read, as a kid. Still did, actually.

In addition, his mother had wrapped up and sent over an entire box of new clothes for Rey, along with a few of Ben’s old toys from when he was her age- his old Lite-Bright, his hot wheels, and a nice set of plastic Star Wars lightsabers he remembers not actually being allowed to play with because ‘ _you’ll hurt someone’._

He’s surprised she still had them.  
  
They take everything outside after breakfast, where the other kids in the apartment complex are already tearing up the fresh snow that fell overnight.

Ben is in the middle of pile-driving Rey’s little friend into a snowbank when Hux walks up. There’s a drink carrier in his hand, and Ben recognizes the Starbucks logo even from twenty feet away.

“Hey, Hux. Be right there,” he calls, raising his voice to be heard over the shrill little-kid giggles and shrieks of, ‘no no stop it’s cold!’

“Oh yeah? Is it cold?” He scoops up a big handful of snow and shoves it down the back of Finn’s jacket, which sets off a new wave of screaming.

Hux inclines his head as he follows the sidewalk around the play area to a bench, dusting a bit of snow off it with one gloved hand and sitting down.

“No! Ben!” Finn is rolling around in the snow, getting more of it in his jacket himself than what Ben is shoving in there. He latches onto Ben’s arm and clings, laughing.“No, no! Rey, help!”

“Uh-uh, nobody’s gonna help you-” Ben growls, playful, jerking him up and dropping him in the snow a few times.

Ben is in the process of climbing to his feet, after shoving Finn’s bobble-hat covered head in the snow one last time, when something thwacks him in the back. There’s a sound, like a hollow plastic thump, and Rey shouts, “Finn! I’ll save you!”

“Hey, ow-” Another thud as Rey’s plastic toy lightsaber smacks him in the shoulder. Another. _Thud_. That actually hurt a little. Shit, no wonder his parents never let him play with these things when he was little-

“Leave him alone!”

“Oh, you think you can take me?” Ben says, climbing up on his knees. The other lightsaber is maybe fifteen feet away, abandoned in the snow near where Hux is sitting.

“Don’t do it, Rey!” Finn rolls to one side to watch, still shaking snow out of his hood.

“I’m gonna beat you!”

“You sure about that?”

“You’re gonna- Hey!” She’s watching his hands where he’s reaching out like he’s about to tickle her, instead of paying attention to his legs and Ben takes his chance- gets his feet under him and scrambles through the snow lunging for the other lightsaber. But Rey’s quick, she dives after him with an angry sound and there’s another flurry of thumps against his back as she beats him with the plastic toy.

“Ow, shit-” Ben yelps, but he gets the other toy in his hand and turns around to chase her with it.

Rey skids to a stop, kicking up a mess of snow. She takes one look at him, snow in his hair and sticking all over his jacket like some kind of really pathetic snow monster.

Then she lets out a scream and takes off the opposite direction.

Ben chases her.

They run around in the snow like idiots for a few minutes. Rey’s slower than usual in her puffy jacket and winter hat, and he bonks her in the head or jabs her in the shoulder with the red lightsaber every time she’s within reach, just to make her shriek in rage.

“What was that about beating me? Huh? Gonna get you-”

It’s easy hitting her from a distance and jumping back out of range when she turns around and swings at him. Fuck letting little kids win, Ben decides. He’s got his A game today.

“Hey!” she yelps, clutching the top of her hat with both hands when Ben leans forward to tap her lightly on the head.

“You want me to teach you how to use that?” he laughs, when she swings at his kneecaps again and misses. “Cause I’m over here-”

“You’re not being fair! You’re taller than me!”

“Yeah, well then you should grow.”

She growls and swings as him again.

“You’re doing great, Ben,” Hux calls, amused. He’s still sitting on the bench, bundled up in his long dark coat, sipping a steaming cup of coffee.

Ben turns to give him a little wave. Later he’ll probably be mortified about this, about running around like an idiot in the snow in front of someone he absolutely, definitely, doesn’t (okay fine maybe a little) have a thing for, but right now he’s too high on adrenaline and sugar from the three cinnamon buns he’d shoved in his face during their Christmas Morning breakfast to care.

Naturally, that’s when Rey takes advantage of his distraction to turn and launch herself at him like a tiny ball of fury. Of course she does. She’s his kid. He really should fucking know better.

She dives with a little growl and a look like she’s seriously, legitimately planning on gutting him with her little toy plastic lightsaber, connecting with his midsection, and Ben goes down hard.

Thud thud thud thud-

“Ow - shit- Rey, no-” Ben yelps from under the lightning barrage of blows, but he taught her well- no mercy. He manages to roll onto his stomach, burying his face in the snow. The plastic toy makes a hollow sound every time it connects with the back of his head or shoulders as Rey pummels him, laughing. “Ow- ow- no, that’s not fair, you cheated-”

Rey just laughs.

And then suddenly Finn is there too, shoving big piles of snow at him, trying to bury what parts of his body Rey isn’t busy hitting. Ben whines, “Hux, help-”

“No.”

“Please?”

“I’m busy.”

“You’re a jerk,” Ben mumbles into the snow.

He plays dead until the kids get bored jumping on him run off, racing each other to the slides.

Ow. _Ow._ Fuck. He’s going to have so many bruises. Worth it, though.

There’s a crunch of footsteps and a smell of coffee.

“Are you alive?” Hux nudges him with one boot.

“No.”

“Oh, dear.”

They end up sitting on the bench together watching the kids run around, Ben still dusting snow out of his hair.

“Merry Christmas.” Hux hands Ben the second drink in the carrier. He’s wearing the same dark coat and bright red scarf from yesterday, and it makes his hair look pale orange in contrast. His breath frosts the air in front of his face. His nose is faintly pink.

“Thanks,” Ben says, cupping his hands around it to warm them. He should have worn gloves.

“It’s just black coffee, I wasn’t sure what you’d like-”

“No, this is good. This is great.” Ben cuts him off. He takes a sip. It’s dark and more bitter than he normally likes, but the warmth is amazing. Now that he’s not running around, the chill is starting to set in.

“So how was your Christmas?” Ben asks.

“Relaxing.” That little quirk in the corner of his mouth.

“Were your parents pissed?”

“I have no idea. My phone’s been off since yesterday.”

“Nice.” Ben smiles. After a while, Hux does too.

They watch the kids play until the snow has started to melt into slush, and their coffee is down to cold dregs at the bottom of the cup. When Ben invites Hux inside to warm up and watch tv crappy re-runs of Christmas specials, he agrees, “Just for a few minutes.”

“Go get mister Hux his present-” Ben tells Rey. The wrapping job is less than stellar, but Hux doesn’t comment when she hands him the lumpy shape, wrapped in happy snowmen and covered in too much tape.

“I picked it out,” Rey says.

Perched on the edge of the couch, Hux carefully slits open the wrapping to reveal a travel mug with a picture of grumpy cat and _I’m not grumpy, this is just my face_ on it. He laughs- really, genuinely laughs, revealing a row of slightly crooked teeth, and Ben has just enough time to think _oh no_ before he’s lost.

“Thank you, I love it.”

“I figure it makes up for the tie.”  
  
Hux's eyes say, ' _nothing makes up for that tie'._

“I actually got you two something, as well,” Hux says, producing a gift bag Ben had seen him carry into the apartment but hadn’t commented on.

“Hey, no- you didn’t have to do that.”

“It was no trouble.”

“What is it?” Rey asks

Ben reaches in the bag - basic, red, and unadorned - and pulls out two unwrapped books. _The Once and Future King_ and-

“ _Matilda_!” Rey snatches the book out of Ben’s hand and clutches it close to her chest with an excited squeal. This book is older than the other one, dog-eared and wrinkled, with HUX written in sharpie across the spine.

“You’ve chosen it enough times during reading, I thought you might just need to keep it.”

“Hey, what do you say-” Ben prompts.

“It’s my favorite! Thank you, mister Hux!” She flings a hug around his neck, which he endures with stiff patience and a little pat on her shoulder.

Once she’s released him and flung herself down in a pile on her Wonder Woman blanket to thumb through the book, Hux fusses with his hair and straightens his sleeves of invisible wrinkles. He had removed his gloves when he came in, but hasn’t taken off his coat, like a reminder that he isn’t going to stay. Ben isn't sure which one of them needed the reminder

“I wasn’t sure what you would like. I hope that’s alright,” he says, with an edge of challenge- as if he’s braced for complaints- when Ben flips open _The Once and Future King_ to read the dust jacket.

“No, this is great,” Ben says, honestly. “I’ll read anything. Nobody ever gives me books.”

His few friends from work all seemed to think he wanted stupid shit like shot glasses or novelty sex toys. People always seemed to be surprised when he said he liked to read. It was true he didn’t own many books, but every few weeks he went to the library and grabbed something to read on the bus late at night. He never had time otherwise, and it saved his phone battery on the ride to work.

One of the bartenders he’d gone out with - actually gone out with instead of just taken home - had laughed when she saw him reading at the bar one night while they were closing down. _“That’s so cute, you look just like a little nerd.”_

“Good. I’m glad,” there’s a hint of relief in Hux’s voice.

“I love it,” Ben says. “Really. Thanks.”

He can tell what Hux is about to say a second before he opens his mouth, “Well, I should be going. Thank you for having me over.”

“Yeah, alright. Thanks for coming.”

“Bye, mister Hux! Have a good Christmas!” Rey chirps from her blanket pile.

At the door, Ben offers a handshake, which Hux accepts, and if he notices that Ben holds on a second too long, he doesn’t say anything. Hux’s hands are fine-boned and soft except for his fingers, which are calloused from writing, and just a bit cool.

“Merry Christmas, Armitage.”

“You too, Ben.”

That night after Rey is asleep, Ben drops into his own bed and cracks open The Once and Future King. Two stories in, he gives in to the urge to reach over to the bedside table and grab his phone.

 _I’m glad you came over today._  
_\- sent 9:46pm_

He falls asleep within the next hour, but when he wakes up - to Rey jumping on his bed demanding more cinnamon rolls for breakfast - his phone is blinking with a reply.

 _Me too._  
_-sent 11:14pm_


End file.
